For the first five minutes or so my new life consisted of perusing the inside of a blue shopping bag and listening to an ominous rumbling sound. Soon, however, the nice lady pulled me out and cuddled me and then let me meet the rest of the people. I'd already met the young girl, whose name I discovered is Kate, and there was also another nice girl called Chloe and a very happy chappy called Larry who was making the big metal box that was making the rumbling sound go. We drove through lots of nice countryside with bigger versions of me in the paddocks and at one stage it was pretty scary because the rumbly metal box had to stop whilst a whole herd of cows walked down the road and around the car. The family was pretty excited by this and took photos and everything!
We stopped in Geraldine for a little while. The family got out of the car and went and did some fruit wine tasting in Barkers and cheese tasting in another shop. I tried out my new job of watch sheep and looked after the car for them. When they got back in the car I cuddled with Larry whilst Jenny drove but then the best thing happened. JENNY LET ME HELP HER DRIVE!!!! Me! Who just this morning was a nameless, stuffed, souvenir sheep from Lake Tekapo. Driving! Jenny and I decided to take the scenic inner road to Christchurch and eventually we got to the home of the giant salmon - Rakaia. Stopped at the cafe at the salmon farm for lunch and once again I played watch sheep and looked after the car whilst the family had lunch. We then drove across New Zealand's longest bridge and headed up to Christchurch. It's a really big place and it was a bit scary with all the cars and stuff.
I was happy to just chill in the motel unit for a while whilst the family went for a walk. They drove into the Botanic Gardens and left the car there and walked through the gardens and into Christchurch CBD. Or what's left of it. They were shocked at just how much of the city was devastated by the earthquakes of 2010/11. Every street block has big empty spaces, currently being used as temporary unmarked car parks, and lots of buildings are either covered in scaffolding and in the process of being rebuilt or covered in scaffolding to hold them up until they can be demolished. Just all terribly depressing and probably the closest we'll get to the feeling of what it must to have felt like to be in London or Dresden or somewhere where lots of bombs hit during WWII.
There is a whole little 'container city' of shops and banks in shipping containers which was actually kind of funky. I hope they keep a little bit of it when they do all the rebuilding. Jenny had a nice 'town planning' chat to the ladies manning the ReStart information booth about the master plan for the redevelopment of Christchurch. They will use the opportunity during rebuild to reroute roads etc to provide for better traffic flow around the CBD and make it more pedestrian friendly. Like Perth, unfortunately the government is balking at doing light rail which is a shame as there are already tracks for a tourist route that they could utilise and extend.
Headed back through the park and to the car and back to the unit for a relax time and some more playing with me! The girls and I then decided to stay home and watch Disney Channel. I particularly liked the show with the talking dog. It was very funny.
Larry and Jenny headed out for dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant and I babysat Kate and Chloe. It was really cool cos when the grown ups left we watched murder mystery shows. I like them too trying to work out who dunnit. Larry and Jenny brought back takeaway for the girls and now they're all packing up all the stuff they had in their car because, GUESS WHAT, tomorrow we get to go on an aeroplane!!!!!!!
This starts off almost exactly like the prize-winning "Amy's Birthday Surprise". (See Floreat park Primary School Brochure, 1962.)
ReplyDeleteGlad you have adopted Jeff and had a great time in NZ. Look forward to hearing more.